Rolling Girl
by Rima Shimada
Summary: "I don't hate my life, I just don't particularly like it."
1. Chapter 1

Neru threw her backpack on the hardwood floor of her house, "I'm home," she mumbled to herself. She shuffled threw the house and into the kitchen.

"Where were you?" Her mother spoke without even turning her eyes away from her cooking pot on the stove.

"It's only, like, 4:30. What's wrong?" Neru replied casually.

"I saw your room today. You're father and I are not very proud of that mess and especially the tests under your bed."

"Tests?" Neru sat down at the kitchen table.

Now her mother spun around as quickly as a hurricane and was glaring directly at Neru, "Don't try and hide it anymore! The failed tests? The unfinished homework? Any of this ring a bell now?! Or do I need to go show you?! Heck, why don't we just hang them on the fridge so that everyone who comes over can see how great you are doing at school?!" She moved from her place by the stove to directly in front of Neru.

"Please, don't…" Neru whispered.

"Then go clean up that filthy garbage in your room. The rest of the drawings, too," Her mother pointed towards the stairs. As Neru walked over, she saw the trashcan for a moment, which was filled with crumpled up papers, all signed with her name in the corner, her works of art. She just sighed and continued to lifelessly walk towards her room.

Neru quietly closed her door. She didn't want to provoke her Mom, even though Neru was furious. Her head was filled with rage that spread from her brain throughout her whole body. But, just like always, she pushed it down and ignored the feelings. Instead, she sat down and began to pull the papers out from underneath her bed and mattress.

"It's only Tuesday and my week already sucks, but it'll get better, right?" She spoke to herself. Neru always held onto that sense of false hope that everyone had. Reassuring herself was her best way to cope with her emotions.

Her trash bin was slowly but surely filling up with old pieces of paper with worksheets and tests, quizzes and homework, all with large red marks all over them. It felt good to Neru to get rid of them, though.

Neru looked up from underneath her bed when she heard the front door slam, "Yep, Dad's home," she sighed then reached back under her bed, only to find that all of the rubbish was gone. Neru sat up, flipped her ponytail over her shoulder, and put on a pair of large headphones because she knew this scene all too well.

_ Let's see. Dad comes home…drunk and Mom complains about how he does nothing around the house. He'll argue back, then she'll turn the subject over to me, which should be in about 3…2…1_

"What?! What is wrong with that child?!" Neru heard her father's muffled yell through the closed door.

_And this is the part where I should leave before they both come upstairs._

Neru pried open her window and, thankfully for her, the roof was right underneath her window, and it wasn't that far off the ground, either. She swung her leg over the edge of the windowsill and then the other and climbed down from the roof. Her feet hit the ground and she snuck over the fence in the backyard and out to the front.

"Ha, more yelling. Nice work, Neru. Just in time," The blond praised herself and strolled down the road to her friend, Teto's house, as usual.

_Ding Dong_

"Yo! What's up, little buddy," Teto grabbed Neru into a big hug, "Akaito! Neru's here!"

"Hey! I'm not that short!" She pushed herself out of the suffocating hug.

"Hey, haven't seen you in a few days. What's up?" Akaito asked calmly.

"Well, duh you haven't seen me. Weren't you suspended for gluing everything down on the teacher's desk?" Neru playfully punched Akaito in the arm.

"True and it was totally worth it," he smirked.

"Well, come inside, Neru. I was just kicking Akaito's ass in a videogame."

"You wish, Teto. We all know that I'm gonna win in the end," Akaito placed his hands on his hips.

"Riiiight," Neru sarcastically responded as the three walked over to the dim living room. Neru plopped down on the couch in between her two friends. She sunk into the large cushions and felt so comfortable that she could fall asleep right then and there.

"So," Akaito spoke between movements on the game, "Another fight?"

"Yeah, but it's no big deal. I kinda deserved this one," Neru put her feet up on the coffee table in front of them.

"Are you sure?" Teto looked away from the screen for a moment to see Neru.

"Yeah, I'm fine. If I go back in an hour, it'll be calmer. Can you toss me a controller?"

"Yep, but don't cry when I win by a landslide," Akaito blurted out.

"You really shouldn't make rules you're gonna break yourself," Neru laughed as she said this and Teto laughed with her.

_This place is the closest thing to paradise I've ever had._

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**A/N:** Ugh, I don't really like this chapter, but I know it's going to get better. I'm hoping to make this around four or five chapters. Hope you enjoyed this and will keep reading!

Disclaimer: I do NOT own Vocaloid!


	2. Chapter 2

Neru rolled over in her bed and glanced at her alarm clock. She squinted at it and read the time '2:30 am'. She groaned and shoved her pillow on top of her face.

_I am never going to fall asleep. School is going to be awful tomorrow… or today. It's not tomorrow until I wake up._

Neru forced her eyes shut. She held them this way for a while, fighting back her instinct to open them. She couldn't help that insomnia got the best of her most nights. She did try her best to sleep, though, she just couldn't.

_BEEP BEEP BEEP_

Neru smacked her alarm clock and sat up. She picked up the plastic clock at looked at the time. Neru swept her blond hair out of her eyes and turned off her alarm. School would be boring today, Neru just had that feeling, but what day is school not boring? Hot water poured from the shower head in the bathroom across the hall from Neru's room. She was relying on this shower to wake her up, because the bus ride sure as heck wasn't going to.

Neru rubbed her long, wet hair in her bath towel to dry it a little. She pulled on a tank top and her panties and walked out the bathroom door after tying up her hair to its usual side-ponytail. She stopped for a moment at the mirror before she left and made a face in the mirror by sticking out her tongue. She then giggled and continued her trip back to her room. No one was awake yet and Neru loved the silence in the morning, but she loved hearing everyone else talk throughout the rest of the day. It was the simple little things like these that made Neru's heart feel just a little better.

Closet doors were opened quietly as Neru slid out her uniform. The hangers were placed back in the closet as Neru placed her shirt, tie, and skirt on her bed. This is not really her style, but what could she do? She buttoned up the eight buttons on her white blouse and zipped up the side of her green, plaid skirt. She slid on her white knee-highs and tightened her tie around her neck. She was nearly ready and it was almost time to leave.

Neru peeked in her parents' bedroom to see her mother's messy blond hair covering her face and her father's half of the covers pulled over to his wife's side.

_ Completely different people sleeping than awake._

Neru tip-toed down the stairs, being careful not to wake her parents. She grabbed her school bag and checked to make sure the homework was already in there. After she confirmed that, she grabbed a granola bar from the pantry and walked out the door, slipping on her brown shoes as she left. The bus stop was merely a walk from her house to the end of the street, only passing about five houses. She knew that no one was close enough to get on the bus at her stop, but she didn't mind. Teto was on the stop right after hers and Akaito the one before. Neru was just excited to see their smiling faces.

The large, yellow monster came to a halt right in front of the small blond and whisked her away into a dirty seat in the back. Neru hated riding a lone on the bus, but now that she rides with Teto, she doesn't mind it that much.

"Morning, Blondie," Akaito grinned at Neru from the seat across the aisle.

"Hey," Neru weakly smiled.

"Still sleeping in that brain of yours?" Akaito stretched his arm across the aisle and tapped on Neru's forehead.

"Heh, yeah. Couldn't sleep again, so you need to take notes for me. I'm planning on sleeping through literacy. Cool with you?" Neru laughed.

"Alright, but if something important happens, I'm kicking you to wake you up."

"Jerk," Neru stuck out her tongue.

The bus screeched to a halt again and backed up a bit. The driver must have forgotten Teto and Iroha's stop again. The sound of the bus doors opening reminded Neru of a UFO, not that she'd ever heard a UFO hatch opening, but she assumed it sounded a bit like this.

Teto boarded the bus and walked down the narrow aisle towards Neru and Akaito, her magenta drills bouncing a bit with every step she took. "Heya!" Teto spoke a little too cheerfully for a Tuesday morning. She plopped down in the seat with Neru and placed her bag on the floor by her feet.

"What's got you so hyper?" Neru questioned. Normally Teto wasn't fully awake, like the rest of them, until third period.

"Nothing really, I just want to make the rest of this week awesome," Teto smiled and swung her arm around Neru.

"You're starting to freak me out a bit," Akaito backed into his seat a little farther, "Why this week?"

"Well, you're switching schools, right?" Teto looked at Akaito as he swept over his fiery-red hair.

"Oh-yeah, that's this week isn't it…" Akaito trailed off.

"What?!" Neru spun her shoulders so that she was facing Akaito now.

"Yeah, didn't I tell you? My parents are sending me to a boarding school on Thursday because they think it will straighten me out a bit. I won't have much free time anymore, if any," Akaito scratched the back of his head.

"Really…" Neru's golden, moist eyes stared into Akaito's ruby-red eyes.

"Ouch, you're hurting my soul, Blondie," Akaito clutched his chest. Him and Teto laughed, but Neru just kind of sat there. She didn't know what else to do.

_ Thursday…_

"Cheer up! He's still going to be your friend, stupid," Teto gave Neru a nudge on the shoulder and a hug. Neru slowly smiled.

_I'm going to be alright…I swear._

Everyone rushed to get off of the bus and into the building. As Neru stepped down the few stairs and onto the pavement, she noticed that a light rain had started. "Hey, it's gonna rain, hurry up," Neru pulled Akaito down the bus steps, nearly tripping him. Most people would be a bit mad at her for this, but not Akaito. He was used to Neru's impatient and stubborn personality. He was going to miss her.

Neru was holding onto Akaito's sleeve in her left hand and Teto's in her right, ragging them both behind her into the school entrance. A few moments after they stepped inside, the rain started to get heavier.

"There, I saved you slowpokes from the rain," Neru smiled and walked to class, arm in arm with her two best friends. This would be a memory that she would remember. The simple walks to class that made all the difference to Neru, too bad that this would be ending Thursday. Now Neru treasured this moment even more knowing that she wouldn't be getting it for much longer.

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**A/N: **This story is growing on me. I'm surprised that I can turn someone waking up and riding the bus into a 1000+ word chapter XD Well, I hope you like this chapter. I hope it makes sense because it just started to feel like it was being typed on its own and was flowing naturally, pretty cool, actually :3

Disclaimer: I do NOT own Vocaloid


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